INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 39 



how much restriction children, especially boys, 

 should have; and I have come to the conclusion 

 that the freedom and mother love which I enjoyed 

 saved me from many a temptation and from many 

 sinful acts they were the sheet anchor of my 

 boyhood days. In after life when I had children 

 of my own it was a great help to think on the wise 

 management of my dear mother and in great 

 measure to put her methods into practice. In- 

 heritance, freedom, environment, restraint, and 

 love each and all in proper proportion, pro- 

 foundly affect the lives of children; with me the 

 greatest of these was love. I cannot remember 

 having brazenly disobeyed a direct command of 

 my mother but once; and I cannot express what 

 sorrow I felt for this both then and long after- 

 wards. I have committed offences since which 

 would be considered more blameworthy and which, 

 I trust, have been forgiven for I often pray 

 to be forgiven for the sins of my youth but for 

 this sin against my mother I could never forgive 

 myself. 



Something should be said of the country in 

 which I spent my boyhood days, for my early 

 environment, I think, had much to do with the 

 trend of my after life. From a little west of 



